Weird things about idioms

[Kyabetsuko 79]

Share things that you find weird/interesting about your first language. Popular expressions, grammatical stuff, words that sound funny or things that don't have translation, slangs, abbreviations...

It's ok to share  even if your first language is english itself, I'm sure you have a lot to share ^^ or not

 

Ok, let me start...

 

In portuguese we have 4 whys. One in the beginning  of questions, one in the end of questions, one for answers (the equivalent for english is "because") and one that is specifically weird and must be used when one is trying to explain "the why" of the question (don't even try to understand '-'). They are respectively: "por que", "por quê", "porque" and "porquê".

Don't even ask me why! XD

 

One word that I love is the word "saudade". It can't be found in any other language. It can be translated as "to miss", but the meaning is more deep. Sometimes it carries a more sad tone, others a more nostalgic, it can be something more light in tone too, like, you miss some dish that you like, then you ask your mother to do it, because you are with saudade of this particular dish. In resume, saudade is a feeling, really hard to understand... 

I guess you could use "homesick" to replace saudade in some situations.

 

A little funny curiosity, our abbreviation for friday is "sex".

Seriously. http://www.calendario-365.com.br/jpg/calend%C3%A1rio-2015.jpg

 

Now to end this a few popular expressions and slangs '3'

The stuff inside the parenthesis are the literal meaning, when possible:

 

Não dá o braço a torcer (Don't/doesn't give/gives the arm to be twisted) - when a person is too stubborn.

 

Pior (worst) - something like "Oh, yeah! True!".

 

Aff - used to show discontentment or disagreement.

 

Pardal (sparrow) - the word we use for the traffic cameras, only specifically here where I live though.

 

Sei lá (I know there) - it means "don't know", but you say it like you really don't care. It can come off as rude to some people, depends on the intonation, actually.

 

PQP - abbreviation for a swear, so I won't translate it in the parenthesis '3'

 

(insert name here) do céu (from the heaven) - usually when you are breaking news to someone or telling a fascinating story. It'd be like "John do céu! Preciso te contar uma coisa!" (John from the heaven! I need to tell you a thing!). Sometimes the name of the person can be replaced with the word mano (bro).

 

That's it ^^

Wow, what a fun thing to write :3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Frostgage 7,975]

The English language is definitely very strange in a number of ways. One that comes to mind is the difference in pronunciation between "height" and "weight". It makes no sense

[Justin_Case001 4,891]

I did not write the following.  I'm not taking credit for it.  I don't know who wrote it.  It just ended up in my pile of funny things my friends have given me over the years.

 

"

If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France (Surprise!). Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

"

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

I always carry an umbrella, because I never know whether the weather will be bad.

 

No, the weather forecasters never know whether the weather will be good.

 

They're over there, busy making their forecasts.

 

They're rarely right, no matter how many forecasts they write.

It brought a  tear  to my  eye when I got a tear in my favorite b louse. 

 By  the way , bye-bye,  I'm off to buy a new blouse now. 

[Lisa 5,553]

knife

knee

know

knew

knight

knit

knot

knob